Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

With the accelerated construction and aging of underground oil and gas pipelines, trenchless technology (TT) has developed rapidly in recent years. This paper briefly introduces the trenchless installation, repair (rehabilitation), replacement, and cleaning technologies that can be used for oil and gas pipelines. Advantages, limitations, technical features, and application scopes are summarized to provide a basis for construction method selection. In addition, this paper collects twenty standards related to trenchless construction technology for oil and gas pipes, so as to quickly identify the standards to be referenced before construction. Finally, this paper analyzes the market for TT and presents key technical gaps.

Equipment and workers are two important resources in the construction industry. Performance monitoring of these resources would help project managers improve the productivity rates of construction jobsites and discover potential performance issues. A typical construction workface monitoring system consists of four major levels: location tracking, activity recognition, activity tracking, and performance monitoring. These levels are employed to evaluate work sequences over time and also assess the workers’ and equipment’s well-being and abnormal edge cases. Results of an automated performance monitoring system could be used to employ preventive measures to minimize operating/repair costs and downtimes. The authors of this paper have studied the feasibility of implementing a wide range of technologies and computational techniques for automated activity recognition and tracking of construction equipment and workers. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these methods and techniques as well as describes their advantages, practical value, and limitations. Additionally, a multifaceted comparison between these methods is presented, and potential knowledge gaps and future research directions are discussed.

The construction sector of India is the best representation of the informal workforce, which employs 36.12 million workers. These laborers flock together in a particular place on early morning every day in order to find a wage provider for them. It is a sale of labor for the day, where workers stand and make themselves available for a day to be hired by contractors or individual house owners. These places are known as labor stands, a stop for finding daily laborers for construction work, which is the distinctive addition of this research to the scant literature. This paper tries to explore the labor process among these unique informal construction workers’ labor assemblies consisting of 15,000 laborers per day and explore their employment conditions and labor relations. The paper also aims to examine the role of various actors of industrial relations such as trade unions and the government in regulating this employment relationship. The paper is based on a field study encompassing the transcribed records of observation, field interaction with 84 migrant construction workers, and 118 still photographs. The data were analyzed by using qualitative analysis software and adopting open thematic coding and later by developing categories and hierarchy and doing comparative analysis. The findings reveal that these laborers experience precariousness and are challenged by nonavailability of regular work, shortages of food, burden of large family size, and social evils of living in a slum, and also face being harassed by goons as well as contractors with minimal support from trade unions and government. Employers are apathetic toward their legal obligations. With labor stands being a primary source of labor supply to the construction sector, the findings of this paper will help in enriching labor relations and policy measures for its regulation.

Technology innovations, such as virtual design and construction (VDC) tools, light detection and ranging (lidar), global positioning system (GPS), and other vision-based or sensor-based systems, provide approaches that designers, builders, and other stakeholders can adopt to address, manage, and tackle design, planning, and site safety issues effectively during the design and construction phases. Nevertheless, the majority of technology applications have focused on permanent structures rather than temporary structures such as concrete formwork and scaffolding. Due to the temporary nature of temporary structures, stakeholders might easily underestimate their importance and pay less attention to their safety, quality, and performance. Therefore, the benefits received for temporary structures as a result of the development of advanced technologies have been limited. This paper aims to investigate, through a survey questionnaire, the current practices related to the level of attention given to temporary structures compared with that of permanent structures, and professionals’ viewpoints of using construction innovations on temporary structures. Based on empirical evidence from professionals who have experience with either designing or constructing temporary structures, the findings reveal that the industry currently pays less attention to temporary structures, and more attention is anticipated to improve safety performance related to temporary structures. In general, design and construction professionals hold positive attitudes toward applying construction innovations on temporary structures to improve the design quality and structural health when they are in use.

The bid or no bid decision in international construction projects requires complex multiattribute analysis. Thus far, there exists no comprehensive framework to support the decision process. The objective of this study is to construct such a framework to support international contractors. Following a comprehensive literature review, five criteria and 41 factors were identified that bear on the decision. Questionnaire surveys were used to collect experts’ opinions on the importance of these factors in the decision of Chinese international contractors (CICs). The 41 factors were classified into six groups using factor analysis, with relationships among them validated through structural equation modeling (SEM). By integrating the five criteria with the six factors, a systematic framework for a no bid decision was developed. The outcome reveals that the bidding decision is a multistage decision process conducted in the following sequence: country risk vulnerability → ability to perform → project risk vulnerability → profitability → probability of winning. In validating this framework, a case study was also examined. Thus, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge on bid or no bid decision-making by offering an empirical framework that effectively links factors to criteria, and which sets out a basis on which contractors may rationally base a bid or no bid decision in the international arena.

The construction industry is facing unique problems in accident prevention. The existing management method for detecting workers’ unsafe behaviors and unsafe states of objects relies primarily on manual monitoring, which does not only consume large amounts of time and money but also cannot cover all workers in the entire construction site. Meanwhile, the workers’ perception of being at risk of injury decreases when they are concentrated in a crowded and noisy environment. In this case, it is difficult for them to take essential measures to protect themselves in the face of danger. In view of the aforementioned issues, this study proposes a method of evaluating the collision safety level of construction workers based on computer vision and fuzzy inference. Specifically, the proposed model works via two modules: vision extraction and safety assessment. The vision extraction module identifies construction workers and equipment through computer vision; centroid pixel coordinates and crowdedness are then extracted from a detection box. Afterward, the spatial relationship between moving devices and workers is calculated by a pixel calibration process. In the safety assessment module, the collected status information is analyzed by evaluating the safety level of each worker and conducting accident prevention through a fuzzy inference system. The safety level, which indicates the comprehensive risk of collision between workers and equipment in a particular dynamic environment, will be displayed numerically, breaking through the limitations of conventional qualitative evaluation. Field experiments validate the feasibility of the proposed method of informing workers about potential danger situations in an objective way. Moreover, by setting a safety-level threshold, the onsite safety management personnel can take corresponding measures to avoid collision accidents when the worker’s safety level is lower than the threshold.

The failure of construction companies is quite crucial because it results in unfinished projects and responsibilities that in turn result in many losses to governments, economies, owners, creditors, and surety companies. Previous research on the prediction of construction business failure utilized insolvency causes that were either arbitrary or based on the availability of data. Many scholars have shown the absence of, and need for, a holistic framework for the identification of the causes of construction business failure. As such, this paper reviews previous literature incorporating construction business failure applications, with the objective of identifying existing knowledge, current gaps, and needed future research directions on the different failure factors in a comprehensive approach. To this end, the authors (1) performed a meta-analysis of previous research work for a 30-year period spanning from 1988 to 2018; (2) identified and defined failure factors that impact the business operations of construction firms; and (3) utilized social network analysis to quantitatively identify the overlooked and missing construction business failure factors. Research results indicate that there are 20 factors that could collectively contribute to business failures of construction firms. It is also shown that there is a dire need for future research to better explore the impacts of some understudied critical factors, including the effect of inadequate company organizational structure and human capital on construction business failure. Another important finding is the absence of models that include a holistic incorporation of all 20 construction business failure factors. The findings herein are a significant contribution to the body of knowledge on construction business failure because they integrate the outcomes of previous works and use them to provide robust foundations for knowledge advancement. The presented guidelines are believed to close areas where an abundance of research work occurs and to unveil areas where additional research is necessary.

Social network analysis (SNA) has not been used to study design project teams in which the full interactions have become more complex (formal and informal) because the team members are from different companies and there is no colocation. This work proposes a method to understand the interactions in the design teams of construction projects using SNA metrics and the sociograms generated within temporary organizations. This study includes three stages: (1) a literature review of the dimensions of interactions within work teams and the application of SNA to the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry; (2) a proposal of an interaction network method for construction project design teams; and (3) an analysis of a pilot project. Interaction networks were defined in two categories: general interactions and commitment management. For each network, metric indicators were defined for the analysis. The pilot project showed high levels of consistency among team responses. The proposed method allows an analysis of the entire work team and of each individual team member. The method also makes it possible to analyze the work team from a global perspective by carrying out a joint analysis of two or more networks.

As a prevalent problem for construction projects, contractor cost details are unobserved or unknown to the owner. This paper considers a risk-averse owner (he) who engages a risk-neutral contractor (she) to complete a project when the contractor’s overtime cost information is unknown to the owner. The owner designs a menu of incentive contracts for the contractor to choose/to negotiate with the contractor to maximize his profit. The incentive payment is determined by the saved time relative to the predetermined deadline. We provide optimal incentive contract menus under symmetric and asymmetric information settings, respectively. Moreover, by comparing the terms of optimal incentive contracts under both information settings, we find that even though the duration of a low-cost contractor will not change with the information setting. However, the owner has to pay more to induce the low-cost contractor to choose the appropriate contract under the asymmetric information setting. Meanwhile, the high-cost contractor receives less payment and completes the project later under the asymmetric information setting. In addition, we find the value of information increases with the level of risk aversion and the gap of costs, and is concave with respect to the probability of high-cost type or that of low-cost type. Finally, we use real data to verify our theoretical findings.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been embraced by governments worldwide for better project governance and improved value for money by sharing risks and rewards with the private sector and exploiting private capital, technologies, and management skills. Although there are a large number of studies that explore the success determinants of PPP projects with numerous publications, research on the root causes of the failure of PPP projects is scarce. Such research is all the more important in view of the many failed PPP projects that suffered from disastrous consequences, including some that were abandoned by sponsors and some bailed out by the host governments, resulting in substantial controversy, criticism, and conflict. Through a systematic research approach that combines literature review, case studies, a questionnaire survey, and statistical analysis, this study (1) categorized six types of water PPP failure, (2) identified 33 failure drivers occurring in different stages of the PPP life cycle, (3) evaluated the relative significance of the 33 failure drivers, and (4) formulated an overall failure map that integrates 24 failure mechanisms, each resulting in a certain type of failure. Outputs of this study would facilitate stakeholders in monitoring the failure drivers in different PPP stages and developing reactive as well as preventive measures to effectively remove or mitigate their impacts toward the successful development of water PPP projects.

As the construction business environment becomes increasingly complex and competitive, business model innovation is being accepted as an essential factor in sustaining competitive advantage in the international construction market. Understanding existing business model types is a crucial part of business model innovation since business model types represent the status of current business models and hint toward business model innovation. However, the classification of business model types has rarely been addressed in the construction industry, and existing studies have conceptually classified them using subjective decisions that have limitations on their use in business model innovation. We quantified the business models of 72 international construction contractors from 2009 to 2014 using measurable variables for business model components, including international diversification, regional diversification, industry diversification, product diversification, human resources, physical resources, financial resources, project types, and geographical regions. Then the quantified business models were classified into business model types using two-step cluster analysis, and the performance differences between them were examined in terms of profitability, growth, and market competitiveness. We also examined how the classified business model types can be used in the business model innovation process. The results suggest the existence of three business model types used by international construction contractors and indicate significant performance differences among them. Our findings provide useful references for senior-level managers of international construction contractors to understand their current business model positions and find effective ways to innovate their business models.

Urban railways play a critical role in the daily life of citizens. However, extensive deterioration of mostly aged systems complicates the management of this type of infrastructure in coping with increased demand and restricted upgrade and renewal budgets. The main objective of this research is to develop a comprehensive network-level decision-making model for managing urban railway systems to maintain the highest level of performance, reliability, and convenience in the movement of passengers in a metropolitan area. By considering ridership fluctuations and network expansion scenarios, the proposed model integrates the current and expected future usage rates into the decision-making process. The Montreal metro system was considered as a real-world case study. The results indicate that proactive maintenance scheduling can save up to 25% of the cumulative expenditure during a 20-year horizon while improving the overall performance of the system. Comparing the decisions proposed by the model and the government plan for this network presents an opportunity to understand current railway asset management practices. The proposed model is applicable to rail rapid transit (underground and surface), light rail transit, and suburban trains as well as bus rapid transit and guides maintenance, upgrade, and expansion of these systems, targeting improvements in their convenience, reliability, and ridership.

Over the last decade, building information modeling (BIM) has been the main player in the architectural, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry. The BIM workflow is becoming more powerful by progressively integrating more applications of the AECO industry. It is worth noting that further elaborations are still to take place to address the in-practice interoperability issues in which import and export information among applications need to be automated. This paper provides a comprehensive interoperability assessment in the structural analysis domain, where the available information exchange methods have been evaluated based on Likert scale criteria. Three scores are considered to evaluate the accuracy of information exchange, including complete transfer, partial transfer, and no transfer. The transfer is considered complete when geometry, static loads, boundary conditions, and material properties are successfully transferred. These four parameters represent the practical need for information exchange in terms of structural analysis in which each application is capable of running its solver to obtain the analysis results. Five commercial structural analysis applications are considered in the assessment, representing the most common in the field: SAP2000, ETABS, ROBOT, STAAD Pro, and RFEM. Based on the assessment results, a web-based structural analysis model converter (SAMC) is developed to enable ISO-based interoperability among structural analysis applications, building on the industry foundation classes (IFC) data model. SAMC has been validated for two applications, namely, SAP2000 and STAAD Pro, while the concept is proven to link any structural application that is willing to join the BIM workflow.

There are many accidents in the construction industry. Unsafe behaviors, a direct cause of accidents, have been studied extensively, but few scholars have examined the role of social capital in improving workers’ safety behaviors. Based on the social capital perspective, this paper explored how to improve the safety behaviors of construction workers in order to provide a theoretical basis for the study of improving workers’ safety behaviors. Through a literature review and analysis, this paper presented the research hypothesis, constructed a structural equation model (SEM), and explored whether workers’ social capital can affect their safety behaviors. The results showed that the structural and relational dimensions of workers’ social capital have a significant and direct influence on their safety behaviors, whereas the cognitive dimension does not. The structural and cognitive dimensions significantly affect safety competency, but the relational dimension has an insignificant effect on safety competency. Safety competency significantly affects safety behaviors and has several mediating roles between the structural and cognitive dimensions and safety behavior. This paper provides a theoretical basis for enabling management personnel to develop and improve workers’ safety behaviors based on interpersonal relationships. It shows that the interaction, trust, and common language between workers help to improve workers’ safety behaviors. This research offers a theoretical basis for studies of construction workers’ safety behaviors and helps construction companies improve workers’ safety behaviors and their on-site safety from the perspective of social capital.

Design-build (DB) projects are getting more implementations in the United States. Several studies indicate that the DB project delivery system has advantages in project cost and schedule performance. Despite having comparative advantages, DB projects are found to be far from immune from cost overruns and schedule delay in those studies. It is critical to understand the effects of various factors underpinning the cost and schedule performance of DB projects. The overall objective of this research is to utilize cluster analysis and statistical analysis to identify factors with significant potentials to describe the variability of project cost and schedule performance in DB environment. Several control factors, such as evolving requirements from owners, unforeseen conditions, attributes of project teams, and major project characteristics were taken into account. This research contributes to the body of knowledge in innovative project delivery through empirical examination of underlying factors affecting project cost and schedule performance. The notable findings are (1) progressive DB is associated with the best cost performance, and its application could effectively reduce owner-directed changes; (2) project managers’ experience, particularly the lack thereof, brings more variability to cost performance, while projects in the places with greater experience with completed projects show greater cost performance; (3) the effects of contract and procurement method on cost performance are significantly moderated by project and owner types; (4) unforeseen conditions are not necessarily related to cost performance; and (5) some unforeseen conditions (i.e., unforeseen inclement weather and unforeseen interruptions from government) are found to have statistically significant negative implications on schedule performance.

The success of construction projects is largely influenced by the significant costs incurred by workplace deviant behavior (WDB). It is useful to better understand how WDB occurs among workers for its preventive management. By invoking social exchange theory, this paper clarifies how WDB among construction workers can be predicted by leader–member exchange (LMX) and leader–member guanxi (LMG). Data were gathered from 153 workers and 17 supervisors in 17 construction projects. The results show that LMX and LMG are negatively related to WDB. LMG moderates the relationship between LMX and WDB: The negative relationship between LMX and WDB is stronger when LMG has higher quality. The findings contribute to research on WDB, especially from the aspect of leader–member relationship in the construction industry, and shed light on the theory of social exchange by capturing the role of its nonwork part, LMG, in predicting WDB. Managers of construction projects can benefit from the novel explanation offered here of the occurrence of WDB among workers and suggestions on controlling it in advance.

Past research adopted the universalist assumption of the gendered organization lens and revealed the career challenges of female engineers with few practical implications. Because such assumptions may miss the importance of contextual differences and subtleties, there is limited knowledge about positive experiences. Recognizing the influence of organizational and industrial contexts that interconnect culture and societal structures, this study aimed to understand the work experience of female engineers in Turkey and how the phenomenon of positive social exchange between employer and employee may bring job satisfaction and work productivity. The novel application of social exchange theory provided a fresh theoretical lens for analyzing the narratives of 19 female engineers. Enriching the body of knowledge, three key themes that contrast with past studies are (1) career fit, (2) fair human resource practices, and (3) supportive leadership that informs positive social exchange. This study revealed that within the institutionalized gendered environment, a skilful combination of fairness and protective nuance of paternalistic culture not only complement the patrimonial culture but also enable female talents to perceive fair employment exchange and career fit. The observed phenomena in this study also lay a contextual foundation for innovative talent management that is transferable to nations with a collective culture. In addition to a refinement of theory to consider contenxual valence, the findings challenge negative connotations surrounding female commitment and career that encourages a re-examination of females’ employment to reshape their work experiences in gendered construction firms.

The current literature discusses the methods to estimate the costs and cost contingency. The literature also distinguishes “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” contingencies. Little is written, however, about the evolvement of total project cost estimates during the preconstruction phase of construction projects. Moreover, not many studies are investigating the “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” contingencies in real construction projects. Practice expressed the need for getting more insight into the development of the estimated costs of the projects in the preconstruction phase. This paper, therefore, discusses the estimate of the total project costs (and cost contingency) in the preconstruction phases of 29 Dutch flood defense projects using a case study approach. Altogether, the projects have experienced an 11.51% increase in the estimated costs compared to the initial estimates, which is low compared to previous studies. This increase in the cost estimates of the flood defense projects can be explained by “technical” reasons. The investigation of “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” contingencies shows that the percentage of the “unknown unknowns” contingency has increased in the preconstruction phase while a reduction was expected. This increase suggests that the projects were not confident about their estimates and the increase can be explained by a lack of experience, organizations’ culture, or the phenomenon of “pessimistic bias.” Practitioners can avoid “pessimistic bias” behavior by asking for opinions about their estimates and using historical project data. Further research is suggested into realized cost contingency after project execution.